I said Vandy should be your first because its a very strong school that you have a shot at with your numbers. You've mentioned that you might like to go to the south, but you seem to like Cali a lot, and Vandy would give you the choice to enter either legal market after graduation.

If you believe that Vandy is definately where you want to go, regardless of scholarship offers from other schools, then I say go for it. It can't hurt, and I definately believe it will help. Especially with smaller schools like Vanderbilt. ED helps protect their admission/acceptance yield. This is just my personal opinion, although an admission councelor at Notre Dame told me directly that ED helps. Thus, I am applying to Notre Dame's ED.